How Tintin and Asterix saved my childhood

I have never really enjoyed newspaper comic strips, as they either are too wordy or require too much background information to understand. I never understood my dislike for traditional comic strips until I realized my love for classic comic books.

One day, as a curious six year old, I explored a mysterious cabinet in the back of my parents’ bedroom and was surprised to open a drawer inside of it filled with many comic books belonging to two separate series. When I asked my dad why they were there, he told me that he used to enjoy them as a kid and had kept all of his books with him just in case I ever wanted to read them.

I’m glad he decided to keep the books. I was immediately engrossed in the works of “The Adventures of Tintin” and “Asterix the Gaul” two European comics that ran from the 1930s to 1970s. These entire comics presented longer, more detailed stories than the small newspaper comic strips ever did. I read these comic books time and time again, never becoming the slightest bit bored with the stories.

I found the main characters of the two comics series, Tintin and Asterix, most interesting. Tintin’s intelligence and Asterix’s scheming mind always captivated me, keeping me guessing at every plot twist. Captain Haddock, Tintin’s best friend, keeps me entertained with his hilarious catch phrases and Obelix, the omnipresent companion of Asterix, keeps me smiling at his loyalty.

After enjoying these interesting, yet easy-to-understand books for many years, I later realized that I preferred them over the contemporary comic strips for many reasons.

Contemporary comic strips and political cartoons force the reader to think about the hidden satirical message or metaphor within. After a long, stressful day, the last thing I want to do is discuss possible interpretations of a certain cartoon or strip. That’s where Tintin and Asterix both saved me.

These comic books aided me in my worst times of boredom and loneliness. They presented the stories stories in such crystal clear detail that I would not have to analyze the story at all to understand it perfectly.

Reading about the adventures of Asterix and Tintin not only served as pure, mindless entertainment, but also as a way to relieve stress.

It is pretty disappointing that not as many people my age appreciate these classics, and some people do scoff at my taste in comic books, but, as Captain Haddock always says in frustration, “billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles!” I like my comic books!